Saturday, May 5, 2018

One Fine Day

An homage to the loveliest songs and movies ever. It was written as an exercise in writing ballads. I have never before or since atempted writing anything that follows a preset structure, except haiku. I imagine I am forgiven this shabby 1st attempt. Please imagine this as a movie script for a sequel to the eponymous Michelle Pfeiffer - George Clooney movie picturized on a rainy day in NYC. This is the first of my water trilogy. The next is on lakes. The one after will be on bridges.

Cowdust rising in the four O’clock sun
Cowbells restless for home right now
Hoof clops rushing up the banks
Of the impetuous Yamuna
Frisking to the tune of a song divine

Vrindavan along the river
Garden of love divine
We follow in the footsteps
Of Eternal Lovers
Playful as ripplets juggling light

Sunshine and the sun
Refrain and song
Beauty and the lotus
Devotion and the devotee
Inseparable

The river sparkles along like love finding its way through the world

5.

It's night
♫The blue Danube♫ awaits
We dust off crumbs from dinner
Some intolerably scrumptious apple strudels
To find our way to the river
♫Who painted the moon black?? ♫
We hadn’t consulted the almanac!

So you stole up the ♫stairway to heaven♫
And brought the black balloon down to earth
We painted it bright in the dark of the night
♫The dark side of the moon♫ as well
For good measure

You hung the moon back up in the sky
Now the river sparkles like quicksilver
♫A dark waltz♫
Is now a paean to all possibilities
And you and me ♫dancing with destiny forever♫

The river sparkles along like love finding its way through the world

6.
A warm December
Too hot to be outdoors at midday
But it’s cool inside on the thirty-fifth floor
Overlooking the Brisbane
Overhearing children’s chatter
Of plans for bodysurfing in the holidays

The river is dotted with boats of all ilk
Lazy hazy
Siesta-warranting afternoon
My mind meanders
Like the Waltzing Matilda

Wooloongabba thrills with the sounds
Of a cricket match
One had hoped to catch
But there’s a city to explore
And an evening to adore

The river sparkles along like love finding its way through the world

7.
We stroll past a chapel
By the Shenandoah in the fall
Blue green yellow red and all
You make me smile
To hear you whistle to the choir
Singing Hallelujah awhile

The sun is setting
Over the hills in the west
The ornaments of jade amber garnet ruby
Fade to brown on the trees
In an hour we’ll paint the sky with stars

Foggy morning frosty morning
The dewdrops on the spider’s web are frozen
They’ll melt drip drop
And find their way back to the ocean
Like you and I must find each other in every lifetime

Ruminations on the confluence of cultures
That produces unsurpassed beauty
In the fringe of fear
And in the midst of questioning
Then accepting
A marriage of dissimilar customs

The Bosphorus fools the eye
It connects divides and multiplies all at onceIstanbul has
been a conjunction beyond compare
Under several aliases
On the old silk road

Youthful city teeming with youthful buzz
Holds the many-splendored shrine to Divine Wisdom
Reminds one to remain raw as an ingénue
And get drenched in the Wisdom of the Ages
I think we’ve managed to do just that, I think

The not quite river sparkles along finding its identity in a beautiful world

10.
All the threads of my life
Led to you
Like all roads lead to Rome
So I crossed the Rubicon
And here I am

It is very late
The town’s asleep after a busy day
The light in the piazza
Casts a golden glow
On the sandstone of yore

We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I'm standing there on a balcony in summer air
Little did I know
One day we’d be in Verona by the Adige

The river sparkles along like love finding its way through the world

11.
So this is
Honeymoon in Cape Town
Weightless we soar
Way, way up and see the blue planet
Turning on its axis

I finally ditched the fear of flying
And I see kryptonite does nothing to you
What a wonderful world in an elegant universe
And we might want to get back to it now
Incase somebody sees and goes, ”It’s a bird, it’s a plane…”

We're walking in the air ♫
We're floating in the moonlit sky
Suddenly swooping low on an ocean deep
Butterflies musk and rose
By the modest Moddergat I decide
You sow what you wish to reap
Sugar spills abundant brilliant soul-sweetening
From the celestial sugarbowl

The river sparkles along like love finding its way through the world

12.
That was a river
We stepped in twice
Who says you can’t
Likely the same folks
Who say lightning never
Strikes the same place twice

Moon River
Wider than a mile
I’m crossing you in style
Hand in hand
My huckleberry friend and me

One fine day
We find ourselves home
Outside it’s cold and it’s raining
So we watch slides
Of the years gone by in riversong